The first thing I did was to find out

Chapter 237 The Meaning of Fruit Stuffing
The Qianhua Palace Lantern Bao is a type of Bao that requires very high fingering skills, but is not actually that difficult.

The best feature of this bun is that it looks good.

At first glance, it looks white and clean, with a milky white color, even a little translucent, and has eight laces like a palace lantern, with half a red cherry dotted on the top. The color is monotonous but bright. It is a simple, good-looking bun without any fancy details.

But if you look closely, you will find that this bun is not simple at all. On the contrary, it has many tiny patterns.

Each lace is carefully made, and all the leaves need to be slightly turned outward. The patterns on each lace are the same size and equal in distance, and are clipped out one by one with flower clips.

Even the overall round shape should be evenly rounded, presenting the most comfortable, generous and simple effect visually.

The reason why the clamp-flowered palace lantern bag does not look fancy at first glance is because the maker wants to give you this feeling. The actual modeling steps are very complicated. Even the dough needs to be made slightly hard like the dough of the noodle fruit to facilitate shaping.

At this time, someone may ask, Qin Huai has never made the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bag, and there is not much information about the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bag on the market, so how does he know so much about the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bag.

Because Zheng Da can do it.

Friends who read the book carefully must still remember that Zheng Da had two characteristics when making dim sum: he would not bother to make anything that was too simple, and he would often be too lazy to make anything that was too difficult.

The flower-patterned lantern bun is one of Zheng Da’s favorite dim sum.

In terms of technical difficulty, there is really not much. It is essentially an ordinary bun with red bean paste or sesame candy filling. If you want to be lazy, make one with red bean paste filling. If you want to increase the difficulty, make one with sesame candy filling. No matter how you try, you can't make it fancy.

The dough is also ordinary dough, which does not have too high requirements and difficulty, but it needs to be made a little harder for shaping. And the difficulty of shaping is not as great as that of the dough, so the difficulty of making the dough is not that high accordingly.

The most difficult part is the modeling, but it is not as difficult as the noodles.

Making noodle cakes requires extremely high aesthetic taste and imagination of the chef. You can’t make good noodle cakes by copying others. Making noodle cakes is already the pursuit of art. A chef without artistic talent can’t make good noodle cakes.

But the clamp-flower palace lantern bag is different, its shape is fixed.

It is simply tedious, requiring patience and carefulness, and testing the chef's finger skills.

Qin Huai thought Zheng Da would not be able to make the pliers flower lantern buns because he thought Zheng Da did not like making such a complicated snack. Later, Qin Huai asked Zheng Da and found out that he was wrong, very wrong, and he still underestimated Master Zheng.

Zheng Da doesn't like to do it normally, but that doesn't mean he can't do it.

At critical moments, Master Zheng still likes to take out this kind of fancy-looking snack to prove his strength.

The Clamp Flower Palace Lantern Bag is very stylish from its name to its shape.

Last time, when Qin Huai asked Zheng Da, Zheng Da took out the tools and made two for Qin Huai on the spot to prove that he could really do it. He also recommended his flower clips to Qin Huai, saying that they were particularly suitable for making flower bags.

But Qin Huai has never tried it for such a long time.

It’s not that Qin Huai deliberately ignored the Qianhua Palace Lantern Buns, but mainly because Qin Huai didn’t expect that the Four-happiness Tangyuan would be so difficult.

Just looking at the name, who would have thought that the difficulty of making Four Happiness Tangyuan is even higher than that of Qianhua Palace Lantern Bun?
Qin Huai wanted to make the Four Happiness Tangtuan first, and then challenge the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bao. After all, Qin Huai's fingering skills are only elementary, and although his apple noodle fruit does not look like elementary fingering skills at all, like Mengpo Tang missed two sips, it cannot change the fact that he does not shape the snacks at all.

Zheng Siyuan still can't forget the black Doraemon flower steamed bun that Qin Huai made a few months ago.

Although Qin Huai and Qin Luo both thought that the flower bun was well made, Qin Huai thought the black Doraemon was very creative and Qin Luo thought the meat-filled flower bun was delicious, but Zheng Siyuan just wanted to strangle the two siblings to death.

It can only be said that Zheng Siyuan is now able to accept fruit fillings made from so many different raw materials, and firmly believes that there must be delicious fruit fillings in the world made from such complex ingredients, which is inseparable from the stimulation of the past few months.

Zheng Siyuan has endured too much.

Qin Huai: How come he was halfway through making the lantern package when he suddenly began to feel a little sorry for Zheng Siyuan?

Forget it, don’t think too much about it, just continue shaping the buns.

Qin Huai used a flower clip to clip the patterns one by one.

Qin Huai began to understand Zheng Da a little.

If it weren't for showing off or pretending to be cool, who would be willing to make snacks with such complicated shapes?

Dead hand, hurry up! There are still 7 laces to clip!

When Qinhuai was making the pliers flower lanterns, everyone in the house except Chen Huihong went back to their own homes. Even Gong Liang and his wife went back to the next door, waiting excitedly for the birth of the pliers flower lanterns.

Gong Liang has thought it through. When he eats the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bun later, he must resist the urge to take a bite and take a photo to post on his Moments first.

Take a nine-grid photo to show off your 360-degree palace lantern bag. You must be the coolest guy in your circle of friends tonight!
Let everyone know who is the real first choice for Master Qin’s special class.

Gong Liang was still at home looking forward to the shape of the clamp-flowered palace lantern bag, while Chen Huihong had already moved a small stool and sat in the kitchen, eating winter dates and watching him.

"Is it my imagination? Why do I feel like this bun is so difficult to make?" Chen Huihong didn't quite understand. "Why hasn't Xiao Ou bought the sugar yet? Do you want me to call and ask?"

"It's just hard." Qin Huai sighed, feeling powerless for the first time with his elementary fingering skills. "The shape of this bun is too delicate. I'm not used to it this first time."

In fact, if Qin Huai had followed the general shape of the clamp flower bag on the Internet and randomly created a new shape of the clamp flower lantern bag, it might not have been as difficult as it is now.

But Qin Huai had seen the authentic product made by Zheng Da.

You can say Zheng Da is lazy, you can say Zheng Da is not doing his job properly, but you can't say Zheng Da is a bad cook.

Master Zheng is not only a plain-food chef, but also a hexagonal warrior.

Qin Huai used the fully-equipped version of the palace lantern bag that Zheng Da had previously made to show off his skills as a template, and when he was replicating it, he almost felt like he was replacing his own hands.

Brain: Got it?

Hand: Get lost.

Qin Huai added two more patterns and said, "Ouyang didn't come back so soon after buying sugar. All normal convenience stores around here are closed at this time, and the nearest 24-hour convenience store is 1.4 kilometers away. In addition, there are grilled sausages, octopus balls, hand-pulled pancakes, and grilled cold noodles at the entrance of that convenience store. Ouyang ate two glutinous rice balls stuffed with various fruits tonight, and he must have been unable to walk when he saw these stalls. He had to finish his meal before coming back."

Qin Huai said that he had made clear arrangements for Ouyang.

"There's just not a lot of sugar at home, but I'm just looking for a reason to spend it."

Chen Huihong nodded: "The glutinous rice balls with various fruit fillings are really unpleasant to eat. They are too sweet and greasy, and have a messy taste. No wonder even Xiao Ou can't stand it."

"I can't help it. I tried my best, but the raw materials for the fruit dumplings are too many. It's unreasonable. I have never seen such an outrageous recipe. I am now hoping that Gong Liang will give me another side quest as soon as possible. I will overtake him and read his memory first, find out the recipe for the fruit dumplings and read the correct tutorial."

"How can anyone cook like this? Throwing all the ingredients into the pot, isn't that a mess?" Qin Huai couldn't help but complain.

Chen Huihong chewed the winter jujube silently, as if she was thinking about something. She watched Qin Huai finish clipping a piece of lace before she slowly said, "Not really... not at all."

Qin Huai:?
Qin Huai looked up at Chen Huihong and found that she was reminiscing about the past. He knew that it was definitely not the memory of this life that he wanted to search.

"When I was a crazy lady in Peking, I actually ate something similar."

Qin Huai: ? ?

Did Miss Crazy suffer this kind of hardship in the past?
It seems that being an online influencer is not easy. Taking money for a meal does come at a price.

When Chen Huihong noticed that Qin Huai looked at her with a hint of sympathy, she knew that he had misunderstood her and quickly explained, "It's not what you think. It's actually quite delicious."

"Do you know about roasted suckling pig?" Chen Huihong asked. Qin Huai nodded, "Of course I know. It's one of the eight delicacies. It's actually roasted suckling pig. You stuff all kinds of ingredients into the pig's stomach and roast it. I've never eaten real roasted suckling pig. Roasted suckling pig is eaten every Chinese New Year. My relatives like to send roasted suckling pig, roasted goose, roasted duck, barbecued pork, and boiled chicken to my grandparents' house during the Chinese New Year."

Chen Huihong:?

Does your family give these as New Year gifts?
"It may be more common now, but it was an absolutely rare dish back then. The slightly poorer princes would only order pao pork from restaurants during the New Year just to make things look good."

"After Hui Niang passed away, I stayed in Peking for a few more years. I think by then some people might have guessed that I was not a lady from a wealthy family, but the nobles didn't care at all. I didn't care either. As long as I had food to eat and fun to play with, that was all I needed."

"Once, a young master from a military governor's family came to Peking. He brought his cook with him and competed with other young masters in cooking."

"It's hard to compare other dishes, just compare it to the fried pork. You add all kinds of strange and exotic but expensive ingredients into the fried pork."

"Live fish shipped from the south, fresh bear paws, bear gallbladders, and tiger meat caught by hunters, hard-to-find matsutake mushrooms from the southwest mountains, caviar and foie gras from the West, fresh vegetables that are hard to find in winter, and if there is dragon liver and phoenix gallbladder, I would like to ask the chef to add it as well."

"The ingredients used are much more diverse than your fruit filling. They include everything that flies in the sky, runs on the ground, swims in the water, and is buried in the soil. As long as they are valuable and rare, they all have to be stuffed into the pig's stomach. The resulting fried pig has to be delicious, and it scared the owners and chefs of several restaurants away overnight."

"Then is the food that didn't run away delicious?" Qin Huai asked curiously. Chen Huihong had never told such a wonderful story before.

Chen Huihong thought for a moment and said, "Normally."

"That's not the case. It tastes just like the original. Now that I think about it, the chefs were pretty good. They added so many different ingredients, but the taste of the original pork was almost the same."

"I didn't understand it then, but I do understand it now. Those rich young men don't pursue delicious dishes, but expensive, fresh, and unique dishes. They just want to outdo others."

"Plus, the restaurant owners also give names to the pork. They name the pork with auspicious names like "Dragon and Phoenix Bring Good Luck", "Eight Treasures, Eight Flavors, Eight Blessings and Eight Joys", and say auspicious words, as if the ingredients are precious enough, and the blessings and joy filled in are enough, and eating it will make you live a hundred years."

"At that time, the bosses of various restaurants also made bad-tasting braised pork, which made the nobles above unhappy. Whenever Taifenglou made a new flavor of braised pork, Boss Lu would ask me to come over to taste it. I felt that the taste was almost the same every time, but it seemed that Boss Lu could only feel at ease if there was no difference."

Qin Huai commented pointedly: "Because it is safest to have no difference, the noble lady was satisfied with the taste before, and I am afraid that if the taste changes, the noble lady will not be satisfied and cause trouble."

In troubled times, even cooks are not safe.

"So, Sister Hong, do you know why the chef at Taifenglou can make pork with different ingredients taste the same?" Qin Huai asked.

Chen Huihong shook her head: "I can't cook. How can someone who can chop vegetables until his heels fall off at home know this secret recipe? But I think I am just fooling around. At that time, all the major restaurants in Peking were fooling around to fool the nobles."

"You have to be deceptive in your actions and exaggerated in your words. The dishes can taste the same, but the ingredients must be different, the shapes must be fancy, the names must sound nice, and the meanings must be beautiful."

fool.

Qin Huai paused holding the flower clip.

Wait, fool around.

Qin Huai suddenly remembered Gong Liang and Zheng Da’s shared deep impression of the fruit-filled dumplings.

A lot of winter melon candy was used.

There was so much that what Master Jing prepared himself was not enough, so Zheng Da went home and collected 5 kilograms of winter melon candy to add to it.

Because winter melon candy is one of the important ingredients for making fruit fillings, and winter melon candy is the absolute protagonist no matter what kind of fruit filling it is, Qin Huai didn't care much about it.

But what if Master Jing deliberately used such a large amount of winter melon candy?
If the essence of mincemeat is to fool around.

In the past, the nobles in Beijing competed for wealth, which worried the owners of major restaurants so much that they had to make a quick meal of pork. If the taste was not good, the meaning would be used to make up for it. The eight delicacies, eight blessings, and eight joys, good fortune and luck, dragon and phoenix, a happy marriage, and longevity, the rarity and variety of the ingredients are directly linked to auspicious meanings. The more you have, the more you cherish it, and the better the meaning.

What if Master Jing thought the same way at that time?

When Chen Huihong was eating and drinking for free at Taifenglou, the chef was Jiang Chengde. Chef Jing's real name is Jiang Weijin, the son of Jiang Chengde. At his age, he may not understand the process of the competition of wealth in those days, but he must have a deep impression of those strange and bizarre pork, and at the same time remember the good meanings represented by these pork.

Whether it is the Four-Happiness Tangyuan or the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bun, they are all foods with beautiful meanings.

Perhaps when Master Jing used such complicated ingredients, so much winter melon candy, so many nuts, spent so much money, and finally made the glutinous rice balls with various fruit fillings in a confusing way, he actually wanted to give the younger generation a good meaning and blessing.

Eight delicacies, eight joys, and eight blessings, good fortune and luck, a happy marriage, good health, and a long life.

Qin Huai suddenly realized that he was thinking too simply and too complicatedly.

That meal was Gong Liang’s birthday party. It was also the birthday party for Gong Liang to climb out of the abyss, regroup, regain hope in life, and start a brand new life.

Master Jing hopes that Gong Liang’s future life will be as smooth and without any setbacks as the blessings contained in the four-happiness dumplings.

So even though it wasn’t necessary, he still made this complicated mincemeat gnocchi.

Because the glutinous rice balls with various fruit fillings were very special this time, Master Jing has basically not made them since then.

After so many years, and even the person who made the glutinous rice balls back then has passed away for many years, Qin Huai felt as if he was in a similar place, but in a different time and space, and understood the good wishes of the glutinous rice balls master.

Qin Huai silently shaped the flower-patterned palace lantern bag.

Chen Huihong continued to chew the winter jujubes.

She was waiting for the bunny bag.

After Qin Huai finished making the Qianhuai Palace Lantern Buns and steamed them, he had the chance to make a few rabbit buns for Chen Huihong during the steaming time and let her take the raw buns back for Huihui as breakfast the next morning.

The flower-shaped palace lantern is wrapped.

Qin Huai felt that his fingering skills should be upgraded.

These two flower-patterned lantern bags completely exhausted his energy for the entire evening.

Ouyang happened to push the door open at this moment, holding a pancake in his left hand, grilled cold noodles in his right hand, and half a sausage in his mouth. Two bags of white sugar could be vaguely seen next to the bag of cold noodles.

"Qin Huai, do you want to try grilled cold noodles and hand-pulled pancakes? They are very delicious, I tell you. They smell so good!" Ouyang asked loudly, pushed the door open and walked into the kitchen. He was stunned when he saw the flower-patterned lantern buns on the steamer.

"Fuck, this bun..."

“Is it a little crooked?”

Qin Huai: "...Shut up, and stay out of the business of the Qianhua Palace Lantern Bag."

"By the way, Ouyang, are you free tomorrow? If you are, go buy me 40 kilograms of winter melon candy."

"I need to work hard on my gnocchi."

With a plop, the cold noodles in Ouyang's hand fell to the ground.

40 kilograms of winter melon candy, how many dumplings with various fruit fillings can be made!

Dad, I was wrong. This bag of yours with patterns on it is so beautiful. It’s not crooked at all. It was just that my head was tilted and I saw it crookedly.

It looks good, really good, it’s a work of art!
Let’s make less glutinous rice balls with various fruit fillings.

I really can’t stand eating it every day!

(End of this chapter)